Will a rat chew through the ceiling?

Maybe you have noticed a whole on your ceiling and wondered what may have caused it. While it is not a very common thing (as rats are secretive creatures), once in a while a rat may decide to chew through your ceiling.

Why?

The rat in question may be looking for;

• Food and possibly getting desperate, may hope or sense there is something edible on the ceiling floor.
• A place that it feels is dry and safe enough for it build a nest.
• A unique place to hide from predators. Especially if you have pets like cats which may have easy access to the attic (which is normally where rats) find best to build nests.

How do they do it?

Rats have very hard teeth that can gnaw through almost anything. So once it marks the sport all it has to do is start chewing. Remember, ceilings are usually made from soft material which even you can break. This therefore becomes a piece of cake for the rat. Secondly, because they are light, walking around on the celling is not problem for them.

Is there any danger in them chewing into the ceiling?

You may be rat friendly, but the consequences of their eating through your ceiling may not feel so user friendly to you for the following reasons;

• A chewed ceiling is not a sight to behold. You may need to do extensive repair work if you allow them to continue chewing through it.
• Depending on the material used for the ceiling, their dropping and urine will eventually seep through it, and what you will have are ugly looking spots on your ceiling.
• With time you will hate the pungent smell of their urine that may seep through your ceiling.

So what can be done?

You may need to try different ways to remove them. While it is hard for you to get to the ceiling because of the soft nature of the material you could try;

• Deploying a cat into the ceiling.
• Looking for their entrances and using body traps or snap traps.
• General cleaning of your home ensuring they will find no food will eventually drive them away.
• When it gets too complicated, you may need the services of an expert for advice and possible removal or extermination

Although ceilings are hard to reach with little crawl space, all you need is to be is inventive.

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